Accident Prevention 1999

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December 1999

Recorded radar data showed groundspeeds of more
than 160 knots when the Cessna Citation 500 was on final approach.
The aircraft struck a navigational-aid-support structure, terrain
and two mobile homes off the departure end of the runway. The three
occupants were injured during the impact, but they exited the aircraft
before it was destroyed by fire.

November 1999

During approach to Guernsey, United Kingdom, the
pilots of the Fokker F27 received a report containing an average
of wind-speed values recorded over a two-minute period. They did
not request a report of instantaneous wind speed. Thus, the pilots
did not know that sudden, strong gusts exceeded the crosswind limit
in the company operations manual. The aircraft touched down about
mid-field, according to witnesses, then overran the end of the runway,
veered left and struck an embankment.

October 1999

Investigators concluded that the airplane had a
blocked pitot tube and that, during departure, the flight crew became
confused by false indications of increasing airspeed and did not
respond to a stall warning. All the occupants were killed when the
airplane struck the Caribbean Sea off the northern coast of the
Dominican Republic.

September 1999

All 132 occupants were killed when the airplane
struck terrain near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. The investigation
report said that, following an encounter with wake turbulence, the
airplane’s rudder moved to the limit of its travel, in a direction
opposite to that commanded by the flight crew. The report said that
the rudder-control anomaly most likely was caused by a malfunction
of the rudder’s main power control unit.

August 1999

The investigation concluded that fuel exhaustion
might have caused both engines to fail while the airplane was on
a scheduled flight in New Zealand. Five of the 10 occupants were
rescued. Four occupants were unable to find their life jackets and
died before rescuers arrived. Another occupant was missing and presumed
dead.

July 1999

The Canadair Regional Jet’s airspeed was
decreasing, and its engines were producing idle thrust when the
crew rejected the landing 33 feet (10 meters) above the runway.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada said that there was insufficient
time for the engines to spool up to go-around thrust, and that a
thin accumulation of ice was a major factor in causing the airplane
to stall at a lower-than-normal stall angle-of-attack. The crew
lost control of the airplane, and the airplane struck the runway
and terrain.

June 1999

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said
that the flight crew did not follow standard operating procedures
while conducting an instrument landing system approach. The investigation
prompted the board to recommend acceleration of a proposed schedule
for requiring installation of terrain awareness and warning systems
in all turbine airplanes with six or more passenger seats.

May 1999

Deviations from standard operating procedures,
deficient crew resource management and crew distraction were cited
as factors in a controlled-flight-into-terrain accident that caused
substantial airplane damage but no injuries.

April 1999

The investigating authority said that deficiencies
in the Hawker Siddeley 748 flight control gust-lock system might
have caused the elevator gust lock to re-engage when the flight
crew checked the flight controls at the beginning of the takeoff.

March 1999

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said
that the absence of adequate aircraft-certification standards and
operating procedures for flight in icing conditions was a probable
cause of the accident, and that the flight crew’s acceptance
of a relatively low airspeed restriction while operating in icing
conditions was a contributing factor.

January 1999

The pilot said that he rejected the landing when
the aircraft veered left after touchdown. He said that although
the thrust levers were positioned full forward, the aircraft did
not accelerate after lifting off the runway.